Targeted Content is the Future of Advertising

Targeted Content is the Future of Advertising

In today’s marketing space, social and digital advertising includes three main categories: video content, native advertising, and influencer marketing. These all share the same common notion of developing targeted content which consumers receive and engage with, deepening a brand’s connection. At the 2017 Innovation Congress in NYC, the future of marketing and advertising was the focus of a robust discussion. Here are some highlights:

Advertising will change dramatically in the next 3-5 years because of the growing sophistication of data capture technology and an even greater ability to understand consumer buying preferences and behavior. It’s projected that by 2020, geo-targeted and contextual ads, augmented reality, and visual analysis will dominate the marketing and advertising fields.

Geo-Targeted and Contextual Ads

Geo-targeted and contextual ads are already being utilized in marketing today. For example, in 2011 IBM created a billboard that changes colors to match what the consumer standing in front of it is wearing.

Why was this so revolutionary, even in 2011? Because it created an experience based on the context of what the consumer was wearing– a special, fleeting, and engaging experience that captured the attention of the consumer and pulled them into the product.

Although geo-targeted and contextual ads are now common, they will continue to evolve and change; in the next three to five years a 2.0 generation will be born. An example of this are Bluetooth ads that are determined by consumers’ locations. Soon, geo-targeted and contextual ads will be widely used by companies. For example, a consumer standing across from an Anthropologie store who then goes to open the weather app will have an Anthropologie ad appear on their screen. Future activity driven ads will also generate revenue for companies without necessarily promoting products.

Netflix is already investing in this new technology. Instead of serving thousands of different titles to everyone, the company will show individual images of exactly what a consumer wants to watch before he/she may even know. By tracking customer data and patterns, Netflix will determine what someone is more likely to watch at 7 pm on a Wednesday versus 10 pm on a Saturday. Geo-targeted and contextual ads hope to help companies use their ad dollars in smarter and better ways by looking at behaviors of their consumers to figure out which ads will be most relevant and this will probably have a trickle down effect on other aspects of consumer marketing, too.